Ramadoss joined Pattali Makkal Katchi and became the youth wing president. In 2004, he became a member of the
Rajya Sabha.
Minister of Health and Family Welfare was introduced during his tenure On 22 May 2004, Anbumani became as the
Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare of the
Government of India. At the time of induction into the
Manmohan Singh's
2004 cabinet, Anbumani was the youngest Cabinet Minister in the Union Cabinet. During his tenure, the ministry set up various institutions like the
Public Health Foundation of India, Department of Health Research,
National Institute of Communicable Diseases,
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and the
Traditional Knowledge Digital Library. As the Union Health Minister, Anbumani established the
National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in 2005 to provide primary health care to the women and children living in the rural parts of India. The project was lauded as 'the largest successful health scheme to be implemented anywhere in the world' by economist
Jeffrey Sachs. Under Anbumani, the ministry of health brought stringent regulations against the sale of tobacco products. Anbumani initiated a National Alcohol Policy for the first time in India and advocated for 2 October, the birthday of
Mahatma Gandhi to be observed as World No-Alcohol day. Anbumani along with
T D Dogra, the then Director of
All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi expanded the institution to
Jhajjar district,
Haryana.
Member of Parliament He became a
Member of Parliament from
Dharmapuri Lok Sabha Constituency in 2014 as a part of the
NDA with
Bharatiya Janata Party. Anbumani has the worst attendance of 15% among those from Tamil Nadu in both Houses as a Rajya Sabha MP as of December 2019. == Elections ==